Smackdown City: Knights get pins in all six matches vs. Delta

The Shasta College wrestling team beat San Joaquin Delta 48-6 at home. The Knights earned pins in all six contested matches.

Shasta College Wrestling

Shasta College Wrestling

Shasta College Wrestling

Shasta College Wrestling

Talking about sticking it to the opposition.

The Shasta College wrestling team stuck it to San Joaquin Delta in every match on Wednesday.

Competing at home, the Knights got six pins in as many matches to beat the Mustangs 48-6 at home.

"I've been on both sides of this sort of an outcome," Knights wrestling coach Max Burch said. "The kids just want to win. We were aggressive with our pins tonight. All of our wins came on takedown-pinning combinations."

Both teams gave up weight classes. Shasta didn't have a wrestler at 125 pounds or 149s. But for change, the Knights had more in the lineup than their foe. Delta didn't have wrestlers at 125, 157 or 197.

That meant a double forfeit at 125s, 12 points for Shasta and six for Delta and six matches out a possible 10.

Once the matches got going, Shasta dominated.

"It was good for us," said Knights sophomore Todd Rucker, who scored a pin of Marcus Lang at 3:22 in the 184-pound match. "We needed a win like this."

The dominance began at 141 pounds with Derek Ellis. Matched up against Charlie Seang, the Knights sophomore scored a takedown on a fireman's carry and cradled him up for the pin 1 minute, 17 seconds into the match.

At 165, Joey Forseth-Deshais controlled the action against the Mustangs' Antonio Philips. The Enterprise product jumped out to a 10-2 lead after one period. Forseth-Deshais chose the down spot to start round two and quickly got a point for an escape. He then shot in with a single-leg hold and then made it a double-leg for a takedown. When Philips to tried bridge out, Forseth-Deshais moved in with a nelson and got Philips on his back in 3:28.

The most competitive match of the night was at 174 between the Knights' Dustin Reid and Carlos Soto of Delta.

Soto got two first-period takedowns to grab a 4-1 lead. However, Reid scored on an escape, then shot in on a surprised Soto with seconds left in the round for takedown to tie the match.

Soto got an escape point early in the second round, but Reid got him in a double underhook move. He threw Soto over his own shoulder and quickly cradled him up for the pin at 3:54.

"That felt pretty good," Reid said about his win. "I was told my match would be the toughest of the night so it was nice to score a pin on it."

In the next match at 184, Todd Rucker nearly scored on a couple of takedowns on Marcus Lang, but then got reversed and gave up a three-point near fall. Rucker led 7-6 after one period and then chose a neutral start for round two. Twenty-two seconds into the round, Rucker tripped Lang and stuck him with a half-nelson.

"I just got overaggressive in the first round and gave up five points," Rucker said. "That was embarrassing. But, it was nice to come back and get the pin."

Knights heavyweight Tyler Davis also fell behind early when Jasmeet Basra tripped him up for a takedown. Davis got an escape, but later gave up a reversal early in the second round. However, Davis got to his feet and tripod his way up. Basra got too high on his hold and Davis threw him off and covered him on the mat for a reversal, then the pin at 4:05.

Jeremy Moreno then wrapped things up with a pin of Mitch Wilkinson in 1:09. Wilkinson tried to dive in for a shot, but Moreno took him down and switched from a half-cradle to a headlock for a quick pin.

Shasta also had Tim Navarrete at 157 and J.T. Minto at 197 getting forfeit wins. Both are capable enough that Shasta could have as many as eight contenders for a state tournament berth.

"In duals, you need a full lineup," Burch said. "We don't have that, so we have a better tournament team when it is more about quality of the wrestlers and we have some ones."